Adam Stafford‘s Fire Behind the Curtain is a highly eclectic instrumental work, combining elements of mid-century minimalist melodic patterning, contemporary ambient work, soundtrack scoring, and whimsy into one kaleidoscopic neo-classical work. I like all of those elements individually, so it’s no shock that I really like this album as a unit.

I mention a kaleidoscope because while Stafford does have a few pieces that show his whole composing vision (standouts “An Abacus Designed to Calculate Infinity,” “The Witch Hunt”), the majority of the works here show off one aspect of his ideas each. The delicate-yet-frenetic, patterned melodies and counter-melodies of “Zero Disruption” point to his affinity for mid-century minimalism. “Sails Cutting Through an Autumn Night” is as narrative and soundtrack-oriented as you would expect from the title. “Holographic Tulsa Mezzanine” is an sort-of ambient/chillwave/undefinable track built off churning, chopped synths.

There are moments where his ideas crash into each other: the amazing “Penshaw Monument” is a dense, minimalist, nearly-11-minute composition created almost entirely of beatboxing, singing, and yelling. The tone of the song is not as whimsical as the whistling over the thickly layered composition of “An Abacus Designed to Calculate Infinity”, but conceptually the song is highly whimsical (“What if I had 11 minutes of beatboxing?”). 10-minute closer “I Dreamed I Was a Murderer” fuses a highly ambient, textural opening with long woodwind notes for an experimental neo-classical experience. (If you’re into Michael Gordon’s work, you’ll be into this piece.)

Fire Behind the Curtain is its strength. This album has ideas just exploding from everywhere. Fans of adventurous, gleefully genre-mashing instrumental music will find much to love in this wild experience.